One of the James Webb Space Telescope’s promises was that we would find out what’s in the atmospheres of planets many, many light-years away.
In theory, the James Webb telescope is so delicate that it might be possible to detect life as we know it on other planets, according to astronomer Håkon Dahle.
Researchers can see if another planet’s atmosphere is Earth-like and thus look for Earth-like life. You can read more about why the James Webb telescope is so sensitive at forskning.no.
It hasn’t happened yet, but James Webb has made extremely precise measurements of the atmosphere of a planet about 700 light-years away. It therefore takes about 700 years for light from this solar system to travel here.
In comparison, light takes eight minutes to travel, e.g
